This tract is in the Harleian Misc., ed. 1810, vi. 57.

Among the Harleian MSS.

A famous British Museum manuscript, known as Harleian MS., No. 2253.

Father Hudleston's Relation; the True Narrative and Relation in the Harleian Miscellany, iv. 441, an account of his majesty's escape from Worcester, dictated to Mr. Pepys by the king himself, and the narrative given by Bates in the second part of his Elenchus.

Here his intense studies were, it may be presumed, relieved by the lighter task of perusing the Harleian Manuscripts; and here he formed the acquaintance of Mason, a dull, affected poet, whose celebrity is greater as the friend and biographer of Gray, than even as the author of those verses on the death of Lady Coventry, in which there are, nevertheless, some beautiful lines.

He was, likewise, to collect all such small tracts as were, in any degree, worth preserving, in order to reprint and publish the whole in a collection, called The Harleian Miscellany.

Johnson was employed by Osborne, a rough specimen of the trade, to make a catalogue of the Harleian Library.

collected there from the Harleian and Cottoman libraries.

If, for instance, a clergyman or squire, interested in the history of his parish, should find in the county historian something which his own local or genealogical knowledge leads him to think erroneous, vouched for by a reference to the Cotton or Harleian MSS., might he apply to you?

Fac-similes of his writing are preserved among the Harleian MSS.

[10] Of this letter, which was a circular to the Principal Officers of State, Sheriffs of Counties, &c. four original copies are preserved in the British Museum; three among the Harleian MSS., Nos. 283, and 2131; and one, from which the above is copied, Cotton.

In the Harleian Miscellany, vol. vi. p.323., it is stated in Sir John Reresby's memoirs, that "out of his [Monmouth's] pocket were taken books, in his own handwriting, containing charms or spells to open the doors of a prison, to obviate the danger of being wounded in battle, together with songs and prayers."

HARINGTON, Sir John, iv. 180, n. 3; 420, n. 3. HARLEIAN Library and Catalogue, i. 153, 158.

Harleian Miscellany, Preface to the, i. 175.

OLDYS, William, account of him, i. 175; author of Busy, curious, thirsty fly, ii. 281, n. 5; Harleian Catalogue, compiles part of the, i. 28; Harleian Library, on the price paid for the, i. 154; notes on Langbaine, iii. 30, n. 1. O'LEARY, Father Arthur, Remarks on Wesley's Letter, ii. 121, n. 1; v. 35 n. 3. OLIVER, Alderman, iv.

OLDYS, William, account of him, i. 175; author of Busy, curious, thirsty fly, ii. 281, n. 5; Harleian Catalogue, compiles part of the, i. 28; Harleian Library, on the price paid for the, i. 154; notes on Langbaine, iii. 30, n. 1. O'LEARY, Father Arthur, Remarks on Wesley's Letter, ii. 121, n. 1; v. 35 n. 3. OLIVER, Alderman, iv.

OSBORNE, Thomas, Coxeter's collection of poets, buys, iii. 158; Harleian Catalogue, publishes the, i. 28, 154, 158; Harleian Library, buys the, i. 154; Johnson dates a letter from his shop, i. 161; beats him, i. 154, 375, n. 1; iii. 344; describes his 'impassive dulness,' i. 154, n. 2. OSSIAN.

OSBORNE, Thomas, Coxeter's collection of poets, buys, iii. 158; Harleian Catalogue, publishes the, i. 28, 154, 158; Harleian Library, buys the, i. 154; Johnson dates a letter from his shop, i. 161; beats him, i. 154, 375, n. 1; iii. 344; describes his 'impassive dulness,' i. 154, n. 2. OSSIAN.

An interesting group of writings are the five little treatises, almost certainly by one author (c. 1350-1400), to be found in Harleian 674, and other MSS.

The Epistle of Privy Counsel, in MS., British Museum, Harleian, 674 and 2473.

(From the Harleian MSS.

" A drawing in the Harleian MSS.

written in England, and now in the Harleian Collection, No. 2345, fol. 50."

This singular relic was once in the Harleian collection, but did not pass with the rest of the MSS. to the British Museum; it is now however, Additional MS. 5016, having been presented to the Library by Mr. Gustavus Brander.

Harleian 2253, "Alysoun" has the same rime scheme as a poem by Gaucelm Faidit: it opens with the conventional appeal to spring; the poet's feelings deprive him of sleep.